Going With The Flow

AM - Ran 8 hilly miles around June Lake. 7500 ft altitude is tough!

PM - We got to Mammoth Lakes in the afternoon... took a leisurely bike ride around the upper lakes, then skied a lap on the mountain after the lifts closed down for the day. There is a TON of snow here! 

The morning was dedicated to skiing. We skinned up to the east side of Mammoth Mountain and skied a few laps on some steeper terrain, then came back over to the main side and took a groomer back to the bottom. A little over 3K feet total. 

After a solid pool/hottub/lunch session, we did an incredibly scenic mountain bike ride on the Inyo Craters loops. 13+ miles and about 1100 feet of uphill. It was all sand, so even the flat sections were a lot of work! This area has an unreal system of forest roads and trails. 

AM - We skied a fun couloir off Mammoth Mountain

PM - Ran 4.2 miles on trails in Mammoth Lakes and took an easy bike ride around town.

Lots of pics of Mammoth Lakes here https://picasaweb.google.com/Jake.Krong/SummerVacationMammothLakes#

Ran 5 miles with Jake for his cooldown of the Mammoth Freedom Mile. Felt pretty exhausted from the adventures of the last 9 days and running at 9000 ft. Then drove 8.5 hours home - Highway 6 in Nevada is SO BORING!

AM - 30 minutes on the elliptical. My back is pretty sore from the drive yesterday so no running today.

I feel pretty exhausted from vacation/training camp with Jake. We had so much fun...probably did more in 10 days than most people could do in a month. I love California!!

The past two weeks of 22 and 28 miles of running does not do justice to the amount of exercise I have done. I would say about 6-8 hours of hard work every day between skiing, biking, hiking, running, etc. In the past 10 days, I have lost 3.5 lbs so that should say something! I get to eat a lot for the next few days to get back up to normal :o)

If anyone wants to get in shape, just spend a week with Jake and I guarantee you will be worn out!!  

AM - 30 minutes on the elliptical and stationary bike. Unfortunately, I dropped a 5lb weight on my phone so the front screen is all messed up now. I just got it a month ago! Good thing I got the cheapest one possible, but I am still disappointed that I have to open my phone to check the time and figure out who's calling me for the next 2 years  until I get a new one!

PM - Ran 2 laps around Sugarhouse Park. I didn't feel very good between my back and my stomach. I was in food mode all day today and there was free food at work (spaghetti and chicken parm)  = I ate way too much!

AM - Run around horsepark loop. My back feels the best in the morning before I have to sit at a desk all day, so I'm thinking about doing all my running early for a while. I focused on landing midfoot to forefoot today. I might as well work on my form!

The last couple days since being at work has already taken a toll on the back pain. I really felt like it was getting better while on vacation (despite the huge amount of exercise), but I think sitting at a desk is going to lead to a much longer recovery. Luckily, my boss is working on getting me a mount for my computer so I can stand up while working. I think that will help A LOT.

I'm actually really enjoying the weather here in SLC. It feels like mild TN weather :o) The little bit of humidity in the air is a relief to my dry skin.

PM - 6.5 miles mountain biking on Pipeline trail with about 650 ft of elevation in the first 2 miles.

AM - Back hurt quite a bit this morning, so I exercised on the elliptical for 30 min with speed increase every 5 min. I need to make the cross training for a longer duration of time if I'm going to keep up my fitness, but it's just kinda depressing not running when it is perfect weather out in the mornings now!

Noon - 20 min on the elliptical and then stretching. Talked to a guy about running marathons in the gym...he was 6'5" with lots of muscle - I can see why he has lots of joint pain when he runs long distances!

PM - Biked for an hour, probably 8 miles or so.

AM - Volunteered for the Park City 10K, so rode the mountain bike 3.1 miles on the trails to the aid station. Handing out water and cheering on was fun. Rode the miles back to the start. 

 Then Jake and I set off on the Rail Trail...I was planning to run an hour and then hop on the bike to help Jake get to 20 miles for his run. I felt great running and was excited to be out. I was pleasantly surprised that I averaged 7:00 min/mile for the 8.84 miles because I was just running casually. Glad that I'm not losing too much fitness! Then I biked the 11.2 miles with Jake.

I felt like 17 miles biking and 8.8 miles running made for a pretty good morning.

AM - 15 min abs/arms (trying to make this a part of the typical routine). Then went up to Alta for probably the last day of skiing. A pretty good end too - skied the main chute off Mount Baldy. We hiked up about 2300 ft to the ridgetop and dropped in for a nice ski. It was a little scary at first, but fun! 

PM -  2.8 miles in the rain. I complained to Jake at first, but the raining and warm temps actually made it quite enjoyable. 7:08 pace for what felt like much slower.

AM - A few laps around the cross country park for some soft-surface running. 3.75 miles.

Today starts NO CANDY for me...going to be tough, but I gotta start eating healthier. It was either candy or ice cream, and there's no way I'm giving up ice cream!

NOON - 15 min on the elliptical for PT. He did all sorts of painful back manipulations, but it felt good afterwards!

PM - Bike ride 45 min.

AM - Elliptical and exercise bike for 40 minutes. Boring!

Brought the ball to work today to sit on at the desk and have already had 4 people make fun of me. Maybe it'll make all the difference!

PM - 15 min abs during lunch. Then met up with Jake for 4 laps around Sugarhouse Park for 7.4 miles. I felt pretty tired by the end (tired legs and tired of the loop), but it was good to run it all on soft surfaces.

AM - 4 miles easy. The weather was perfect this morning.

PM - 25 min on the elliptical and bike. Lots of stretching and core.

AM - Elliptical 30 min, adjusted resistance based on beats of different songs to make it slightly less boring :o)

I can't decide if I want to run the Draper Days 5k on Saturday. I wasn't planning to do it because of my back pain. But running doesn't seem to affect the pain (unless I heel strike); it's just the sitting. I've been stretching and doing core 3x a day, sitting on the exercise ball, etc. and I'm optimistic that all of that is making a difference. So anyway, I know that I'm not in 5K shape - the last 5 weeks has been cross training and minimal running with no speed work. It would be interesting to see where I am, but I also know it won't be a best performance by any means. I'm thinking about approaching it as a tempo workout - not sure if it's worth it. Anyone have thoughts?

PM - 2 miles warm-up. 6 x 200 w/200 jog in between. Hit all around 40s. I could definitely tell that I hadn't moved my legs that fast in a while!

AM - Ran to the cross country park 3.5 miles easy. 

PM - Bike ride to SLRC 40 min, 1 mile run with Jake for his shakeout.

AM - Draper Days 5K this morning. I didn't run it, but went to cheer Jake on. Ran warm-up with him about 3 miles, then ran the cooldown 6 miles. Got to run with some of the fellow FRB people, so that was nice! 

PM - Rode the mountain bikes to Sports Authority to get a foam roller. It loosened up my back so much - extremely happy I got one. It will become key to getting rid of all the scar tissue around my back.

Rode the bike again to accompany Jake on his 4.5 mile shake-out run.

AM - Jake and I headed up to Jeremy Ranch Road this morning. This is probably my new favorite run - at altitude, rolling hills, cooler temperatures, dirt road, and no cars! Tough to beat that, and this will probably become a standard for longer runs. I ran a 10 mile out-and-back, at 7 min/mile. I felt good, but my breathing got a little labored on the uphills by the end. Then I got the bike and accompanied Jake for the rest of his mileage.  

AM - Loops around Sugarhouse. I found Emily after 20 minutes or so and we ran together. Lots of sprinkler dodging! 

I have officially gone a week without any candy! However, I do not consider semi-sweet chocolate chips to be candy :o)

PM - Strength training for 35 min. Then elliptical for 25 minutes. My back is feeling better...

AM - 8 x 200 w/ 200 jog between reps. Averaged ~39 seconds with a strong focus on form. It felt easy and my back didn't tighten up, which is a great sign. If I have no residual back pain all day, I'll know that I'm on the right track and can start building up my running again (slowly, of course). Sugarhouse loop for warm-up and cool-down.

PM - 2 laps around Liberty Park. 3 miles 7:40 pace. First day two-a-day running = not too bad. Jake and I treated ourselves to frozen yogurt afterwards.

AM - Horsepark loop 4.4 miles. Woke up in a total food mode - managed to eat an ice cream bar, Oreo, chocolate chips, and a scoop of ice cream before I finally got myself out the door! lol Despite that, I still felt great on the run. My back felt good again today - sitting on the exercise ball and doing all the stretches and core is working!

PM - 3.7 miles, 2 loops around Sugarhouse. 

AM - Ran with the Alta High XC team this morning. 6.5 miles with 6 x 3 min "pick-ups". I'm not sure what kind of pace we were running, but it was a pretty good run. I hope that I'll be able to run with them once a week or so.

 PM - Abs 15 min. Then lazy 12 minutes running while Jake was doing repeats on the track.

AM - Ran laps with Allie and Emily at Liberty Park. It was a great run - time goes by so much faster when running with others. Hopefully, group runs like this will become more regular :o) Averaged ~7:25 min/mile, which is faster than I thought but still felt easy. 

Heading to TN for 5 days!! It's going to be HOT, but I am excited to see my family again. We're planning to go whitewater rafting, hiking, water skiing, tubing, racing a 5K, mini-golfing...basically what Jake and I would call a "relaxing vacation". BUT I'm pretty sure my family will be exhausted by the end!

AM - Got up tired from 4 hours of sleep (I do not do well with little sleep, anything less than 9 hours and I struggle). Ran 5.3 miles, normal pace. Dripping sweat by mile 1...I forgot that I used to always carry a rag with me when running in the summer in TN :o)

PM - 3.3 miles before dinner.

AM - 3.8 miles in the morning. At 2.8 miles, Jake had a terrible pain in his back, so we both cut the run short.

PM - 2 miles before dinner. HOT.

AM - 6.7 miles, rolling. Average 7:05 pace. First time Jake has ever ridden the bike while I run. 

PM - Rafting in the afternoon was a total DOWNPOUR with thunder, lightning, the works. It was crazy rafting in all that, but super fun!

AM - 10 miles, very easy. Rolling hills in the suburbs.

PM - 3 miles, easy. Did this shake-out b/c I knew I would be eating a lot for dinner!

Recap of the TN trip - running the 5k race was aborted due to a 6 1/2 hour flight delay and getting into town at 3:30am. All of my runs were just getting in mileage - no workouts or long runs. It felt harder for me to run in the humidity than in SLC. That in combination with the rolling hills made every run seem like a decent workout, no matter how fast or slow.

My back really struggled after the plane ride on Friday. The water skiing on Saturday made me pretty sore too. It didn't ever seem like a good idea to push the pace, especially after Jake got hurt on Saturday (which was hopefully just a muscle spasm and nothing more). Time to get back on top of my stretching and exercises so I can be 100%.

So it's about 4 1/2 weeks to TOU Half. I need to put in more quality workouts and less hobby-jogger miles if I am going to be competitive. We'll see.

PM - Met up with Jake and ran around Sugarhouse a few times. Weather was perfect.

AM - SLC weather is amazing. I can't believe it's mid-July and still 65 degrees in the mornings. I love it. Ran up to Sugarhouse with Jake on his way to work, inner loop around the park and back home. 7:20 pace. 

I am very surprised that I didn't gain any weight while I was in TN...maybe southern food isn't so bad after all! 

PM - Run around SH, then 6x200m with 200m jog. Just went by feel - real workouts are starting next week!

AM - Horsepark loop 7:40 pace. 

Run tomorrow morn. if anyone wants to join - http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,1624.0.html

PM - Exercise bike for 25 min then real biking for about 45 min to accompany Jake running. In Park City all weekend!!! 

AM - Ran 14 miles at Jeremy Ranch Road, out and back. Felt great the first 7 miles, probably because it drops 350ft. Didn't feel as great on the way back! This was the longest I have run since Utah Valley Half (nothing more than 10 in a long time). Rode the bike 6 miles for Jake's 20.

More long runs and workouts coming up now!

PM - Rode the bike about 4 miles, 2 miles very uphill. Jake and I spent our afternoon listening to a timeshare presentation (what we had do for $20 for 2 nights at Westgate in Park City) and lots of hot-tubbing! Very good for our tired legs.

AM - 5 miles on the bike path in Park City. 

PM - 22.2 mile mountain biking on Spiro to Mid Mountain. Quite a ride! A little longer than expected, but great single track trails. I would definitely consider myself a beginner when it comes to mountain biking (except for the endurance part!!) and these trails were perfect. 

From Random July 2011